Mohammed V International sits a reasonable distance from central Casablanca, and the drive in gave an early sense that this city runs considerably more modern and businesslike than Marrakech’s medina had two days earlier — wide roads, newer buildings, a pace that felt closer to Johannesburg’s Sandton than to anywhere else on this African leg, port cranes visible on the skyline well before the city centre itself came into view.
The driver was waiting at arrivals, and the transfer worked exactly as it had in every city before this one. I’d booked the pickup from Marrakech that morning, thirty cities in and the process still hadn’t once required a second thought.
Along the Corniche
The drive into the city eventually runs along the Corniche, the Atlantic on one side and a stretch of newer developments on the other. The driver took a coastal route specifically so the Hassan II Mosque would come into view gradually rather than all at once, a small touch of local knowledge I hadn’t asked for but genuinely appreciated.
The Mosque on the Water
The Hassan II Mosque sits directly on the Atlantic, built partly over the water, its minaret the tallest religious structure of its kind on the continent. Seeing it against the ocean rather than a desert backdrop gave it a different character entirely to Marrakech’s Koutoubia — colder light, a more deliberate, modern grandeur, waves visibly breaking against the foundations on the seaward side of the courtyard.
An Evening Without the Film
Dinner was in a newer part of the city, and I made a point of not looking for anything resembling the 1942 film that made Casablanca’s name internationally, since almost none of it was actually filmed here and the city itself bears little resemblance to that version of it. What’s here instead is a working port city, practical rather than romanticised.
Two nights suited Casablanca’s more businesslike register. Between the mosque’s scale and the Atlantic behind it, the whole visit felt less like a stop on a trip built around cities and more like a single, specific image worth the detour on its own.
Next Stop: Cairo
Two nights suited Casablanca’s more businesslike register. The transfer back to Mohammed V ran smoothly along the coast, and the coverage pointed next toward the far end of North Africa. Cairo is next, and after thirty cities, I suspect it will offer this trip’s oldest landmark by a considerable margin.
